The peace of Reprisal
by denothedino
Summary: In this galaxy, the reapers are beginning to form there first initiation of total annihilation on advanced life forms, little to Shepard's knowledge, who is just retiring; that is of course until Anderson reinstates her. Follows the mass effect timeline, however it will be a little more AU plot wise. Of course majority of this belongs to Bioware characters,settings, etc.
1. Chapter 1: The reinstatement

"Oh my God, you're Commander Shepard! The Shepard that took on batarian slavers with an impromptu army, and then not long after that, lead the offense against the slavers that were left on Torfan! It's really you!" The young woman cooed over Shepard as if she was in the presence of a celebrity.

"In the flesh." Shepard mumbled sheepishly. She wasn't one to lack confidence, but she couldn't say her actions in the two battles were exactly heroic, she'd simply done what the N7 program had prepared her to do.

"Can I please have your autograph? Please!" The girl pleaded with bright brown doughy eyes, as Shepard reluctantly pulled her pen from the inside of her dress blues undershirt. Shepard's mother had brung the pen back from Thessia when Shepard was just a child. It was one of her most treasured gifts from her mother.

"You got a napkin or something?" Shepard searched around to find something that would withstand the ink of the pen.

"I had a better idea." The girl gave a shy giggle which made the hairs on the back of Shepard's neck stand up. Shepard wasn't one for paranoia, but this young lady was plotting something. Before Shepard could form a sentence to respond, the young lady pulled her shirt up, showing the earth toned color bra her shirt was once hiding. Shepard's eyes darted around the walls of the café to see if anyone had noticed the interactions between the two, but everyone seemed so absorbed in the lights and flickers of their Omni-tools. The young lady finally pointed to a place she saw fit; under her left breast. "Of course." Shepard thought, then quickly began to write on the exposed skin. Once the young lady had finally put her shirt down and walked away, Captain Anderson walked up, after catching everything.

"Some fan base you got there, Shepard." Anderson folded his arms and chucked then let his body relish into the seat across from Shepard.

"Tell me about it, that's the third one today. I'm no hero Anderson, I just did what I had to do." Her eyes hinted with a small gleam of sadness.

"You keep telling yourself that Shepard, but no other soldier could've done what you have. Hell not even me and that's saying something." Anderson gave her a playful, but somehow authoritative smirk. Shepard shot back with a forced smile.

"Well sir, we didn't come here to relive the past, what's this all about?" Shepard pulled the conversation back on topic. Only moments earlier she had been asked by Anderson to head to the small café that was on the Alliance base, since Shepard lived right next to the base it was pretty simple to get there.

"Of course Shepard. We are headed to Eden Prime to recover a very important prothean artifact."

"We, sir?"

"It's exactly how it sounds. We need you to be part of the ground team in recovering the artifact."

"Couldn't you get any ordinary soldier to go retrieve it?"

"This isn't an ordinary artifact Shepard." Shepard could see that Anderson was getting tired of the back and forth she was maintaining.

"But sir, I've been discharged. I can't just go run into the fire, when I don't have the proper paperwork filed." As much as Shepard hated paperwork, she had to admit to herself that it was there for a reason, saved her ass a couple of times in face. Anderson waved his hand as to dismiss what Shepard was saying. "That's already taken care of, meet me on the Normandy in one standard hour, that's an order." Shepard sounded off and let Anderson leave before getting up and exiting the door, the young lady waved goodbye to her as she exited, Shepard only gave her a weary smile.

Once Shepard reached her apartment she went to her 'closet' that wasn't even filled with clothes, just a bunch of armor. She grabbed her black N7 armor that was given to her after becoming one, along with a heavily modded pistol, and helmet of course. She walked over to her drawer and began grabbing a few pair of bdu's to go under the armor, knowing she would be given more once she reached the ship. She stuffed everything inside an Alliance duffel bag with the exception of one bdu, and headed towards the shower. Once she got in, she leaned against the wall and let the water run over her deep olive skin and through her deep jet black hair. Shepard loved her hair color, it gave her a rough edge she didn't necessarily have all the time, and it always showed through her bright, blue, sympathetic eyes. She was average hide, with a standard marine build, her muscles flexing whenever she took a step. Even that wasn't enough to make much of an intimidation on people, until she spoke of course. Her hair gave her that necessary firmness every commander was required to have. Once she got out the shower she wrapped a towel around her waist and threw on a sports bra, then headed to the mirror to begin tending to her hair for scissors. She had to admit, she wasn't exactly trying to keep her image as close to a soldier as possible, especially since she had been discharged. She began to cut raggedly and at different angles finally getting the hair to its regular shaggy shortness. The she took a razor and trimmed the back and sides. She wasn't one for perfection when it came to her appearance, but she had the feeling she wouldn't be able to do any of what she was doing again any time soon.

After finishing up she slipped her bdu's on along with her boots and omni-tool. The Omni-tool flickered to life as she checked how much time she had left. _Great_ Shepard thought, _I have a whole thirty minutes left._ She frowned at the realization, being a soldier made you do everything twice as fast as a regular citizen. She plopped down on the bed pondering to herself for a moment. Then without a second thought, grabbed her bag and headed for the door. _It wouldn't hurt to be a bit earl, there probably only still docked because of me._


	2. Chapter 2: Escape to Normandy

"Did you brief her on the mission once you two met up?" The turian stared Captain Anderson intently in the face before tilting his head slightly.

"I did.. Partly anyways. I wanted to wait until she boarded."

"How much did you tell her?" They stood in the boardroom, waiting for Shepard to report.

"I gave her a location and a general mission overview." Once Anderson could tell the turian wasn't satisfied with his answer he tried again. "I told her that we were to recover an important prothean artifact and that we needed her in the ground team."

"And she didn't question why Captain?" The turian's look softened as much as a turian could soften his face, he realized that he was drilling Anderson into the ground with so many questions and quickly reached to correct his previous mistake. "My apologies Captain, this mission has made me rather tense, there's a lot riding on this one mission including council respect and humanity's now ever present role in the galaxy."

"I understand Nihlus, we're all a bit on edge at the moment, however I thought it would only be fair for you to tell her the rest."

"Tell me what Captain." Shepard stood in the doorway of the comm room, folding her arms and shifting her weight onto her right leg obviously waiting for an explanation.

"Ahh Shepard, you're early, I should have expected nothing less of you." Anderson motioned her closer towards the conversation as he continued to talk. "This is Nihlus, he's a spectre. He's here to make sure that the artifact is retrieved safely." Shepard nodded and shook Nihlus hand. Then she put on the most emotionless face she could and began to speak.

"With all due respect Captain, do we really need to be babysat to retrieve a simple artifact. There is more to this than being let on sir." Somewhere in her sentence she had snapped into parade rest and stayed that way while Anderson formed his next sentence.

"Well, yes Shepard there is." He paused and looked at Nihlus for a brief moment, both nodded to each other then he continued. "You're being evaluated as well. You're a candidate for the spectre's Shepard."

Shepard's face had turned from emotionless to shear bewilderment, her body had also fled from parade rest. "I don't understand. There is no one on the council that is a human representative, besides the council made it clear that we needed to redeem ourselves for our brash and insensitive ways." Shepard gritted her teeth at the words.

"Yes, that is true Shepard, however there has been talk about it for some time now and Nihlus nominated you as best fit for first human spectre." If Shepard still had an ounce of emotionless on her face it was gone now as she turned towards Nihlus. "You nominated me. A human?" That was all her mouth managed to say before Nihlus began to speak.

"Yes Shepard I did. Besides, it is not your race that concerns me, it is your skills and abilities, and if I can be so frank, as you humans say, you're the best damn human soldier I've ever seen." Shepard nodded her acknowledge to Nihlus with a small smile attached, she never thought she'd be receiving such high praise especially Turian. Anderson finally cut back in and began to steer the conversation back in the needed direction.

"The mission is simple go in, get the artifact from the scientist, get out."

"About the artifact."

"Yes Shepard, you have a question?" The bridge of Shepard's nose wrinkled and her eyebrows furrowed as she contemplated asking the question. "Sir, what exactly is the artifact?' Nihlus and Anderson both gave each other a serious look then Anderson began to speak. "It's a prothean beacon." Shepard still wore a bewildered expression on her fac. "What is so serious about this one?" She'd picked up on the cues Anderson and Nihlus had been sending each other both consciously and unconsciously.

"This one still works."

"Shepard's eyes flew open. She was no prothean expert, but she knew that this was an extremely rare, if not next to impossible find. "However, it is badly damaged everything needs to be done with care to keep it from being destroyed or worse falling in the wrong hands." Shepard thought for a long minute before looking up with a determined look on her face.

"I won't let you two down."

"I know Shepard, you're the best humanity has to offer." Shepard didn't exactly agree with Anderson, but she decided it be better to not voice her opposition. She wouldn't have time anyway, before anyone else could speak, Joker came across the comm, his voice at a calm panic.

"Uhm, Captain, somethings wrong on Eden Prime."

"What is it Joker?" Anderson asked in hurriedly voice.

"Well as soon as we jumped the mass relay into Eden Prime's area, I got a transmission, it be better if you watched it."

"Send it to the comm room."

"Aye aye sir, sending transmission to the comm room." Joker was gone as quick as he had come. The video wasn't a very long one, lasting maybe a minute or two. The contents however, were fairly disheartening. It started with an Alliance soldier relaying a distress signal, apparently the geth were attacking them. In the background you could see soldiers battling the geth, and actually managing to hold them off, only for a moment though. Then there was only the soldier who had sent the distress call, and even he didn't last long before the video went out. Shepard began analyzing the background. "What the hell is that?" She pointed at the frame Anderson sent it back to. The apparent shipped was shaped like a large hand, eventually settling its claws into the ground while lightning struck near the top areas of the ship.

"Joker, engage the stealth and give me an ETA." Anderson was barking orders left to right.

"Stealth drive core engaged, ETA is twelve minutes." Joker replied cooly before backing out of the comm.

"Shepard round up Lt. Alenko, and Private Jenkins, and get suited, they'll be your ground team."

"Shepard saluted and hustled out the door, she had seen pvt. Jenkins earlier right outside the comm rooms door speaking to Dr. Chakwas with the over excitement of battler in his voice. Once she found them they got suited up and sat near each other in the cargo hold awaiting orders to begin there retrieval of the artifact. Shepard sat up as she saw Nihlus begin to get closer.

"Shepard, I'm going to join you as well, however I'll be leaving earlier, that way I can scout ahead of you all. I work better alone anyways." Shepard just nodded, tensing herself and getting ready for battle. Nihlus was dropped off, and then soon they followed just a little further behind.


	3. Chapter 3: Edena Prime

They were dropped off in a small cove like area that pushed them forth. Shepard watched diligently for any sign of geth activity. The move was slow and deliberate, but it was safe progress. Shepard made a small hand gesture towards Jenkins, and Jenkins rushed ahead towards the exposed opening, adrenaline bursting through his veins. Before he had a chance to survey and assess the land ahead, two geth drones appeared from the tree line and focused entirely on him. "Jenkins!" Lt. Alenko began to run out of cover to help the soldier but Shpeard grabbed his chest's armor plating and yanked him back. "Focus Lt." Shepard practically shouted the words at him. "Take out the drone at two' o clock, I got the one at twelve.

With a quick application of biotics and heavy pistols, the drones exploded in the air. Once the area was clear, they leapt and went to the fallen soldier. Alenko kneeled next to him while Shepard toward above. "He deserves a proper burial commander." The sincerity in Kaidan's voice was all too apparent. "And he'll get it lt. but right now we need to focus on getting that beacon." "Aye, aye mam." They headed back out weaving through small patches of dense trees and open areas where the drones would occasionally fly overhead and be taken out with clear precision. They reached an area that extended upward and then dropped down into a shallow opening. They watched the scene play out below; a soldier, one of the same type from the video Shepard had watched in the comm room earlier. Two geth stood at some kind of post with a small spike protruding the top. One geth held the dying warehouse worker down as the other control the machine, impaling the victim in the chest and suspending him in the air as the color began to suck out of him. Shepard felt herself begin to throw up a little when she heard gunfire from below. The woman had opened fire on the two geth and was being ripped apart. Without hesitation Shepard ordered Alenko to tank flank next to the women. She then pulled her sniper rifle out; a mantis. She aimed down her sight took a deep breath and counted. "One, two, three." The bullet hit the geth right in the glowing blue center. Shepard smiled, obviously satisfied with the shot. _Aim small miss small._ Shepard quickly switch to her shotgun and flared her biotics, she ripped through the air, leaving crackles of blue floating in her wake. She smashed into the geth's platform with great force and it folded into itself before flying over the edge.

Alenko and the young soldier stood in awe as Shepard raised herself up from the ground. "Mam Chief Gunnery Ashley Williams of the 212 reporting mam!" The young woman snapped to attention, and Shepard waved her down. "Where's the rest of your team Williams?" Shepard asked with a sad look in her eyes, she already knew the answer. "Dead man." There was a small silence that staled the air. "Are you fit to fight soldier?" Shepard broke the silence, adding a deep confidence in her voice. "Aye mam." The woman snapped to attention once again and fell in before Shepard.

They once again weaved through the thick patches of trees that only seemed to get thicker and thicker. Nihlus had come over the comm and given a status report. They finally reached the area they had been looking for. Shepard sprinted for heading straight into the middle of the dig site. Just as she made it between the walls three geth swarmed her from each side, she fell to the ground, flashed her biotics then threw her hands causing the geth to fly into different directions. Each soldier put a few bullets into each geth to ensure they were terminated then they began to look around. "Alenko, remind me to never do that again." "Noted commander." "Commander, lt., the beacon is gone! It was here just before me and my platoon left, along with the scientist." "What the hell?" Shepard barked. "Why can't anything just be easy?" She trudged ahead and radioed in to give Nihlus the news.  
"Nihlus, we made it to the dig site but the beacons not there." 

"What? Do you have any idea where it might be Shepard?" Ashley chimed in, "There's a spaceport on the other side of this complex that is the most logical place to look."

"Let's move, and hope that you're right."

They walked a little longer before reaching a hill, then before they could see anything above them, there was a sound of gunshots that filled the air. "Double time people!" They began to sprint up and around the curve until they reached the location; a small warehouse complex. Shepard took a sniper spot behind a rock right next to their position, and then signaled for the two soldiers to head down into the complex. Eventually a small swarm of geth and husk began to come from different directions. The lt. and gunnery chief picked off the rocket troopers and drones first, while Shepard took out anything that crossed into the two's blind spot. A few minutes passed and it was obvious that the fighting was over for now they headed into the complex to investigate the sound and what they found was nowhere near what they wanted to. Nihlus was laid out on his face, blood pouring from a bullet wound in the back of his head. Kaiden checked his pulse but they all knew it was too late. As they began to scan the area a small thump came from behind a few cargo crates.

"Come out now and I might let you live." Shepard coldly spat the words out of her mouth searching for the source.

"P-Please, don't shoot it wasn't me. It was another turian." Shepard lowered her gun slightly. "Start talking."

"Uhm well, I was uhh, hiding back here when I saw your friend come up here, he started talking to the other turian. He called him Saren. Your friend let his guard down and when he turned around the other one shot him in the back." The man was almost pleading Shepard to believe him. "Hm, that would explain the shot to his head so close range. Come we gotta move." They rushed towards the lift pad pushing through geth with biotics, and heavy weapons and eventually reached all the way to a long walkway.

"Alright if the beacon's still here it's right around that corner." Shepard shouted. They were relentless using warp, after charge, after carnage. Ripping through the geth's last defense easily. Once they turned the corner Shepard could see it. "Normandy this is shore party. We have the beacon, requesting pick up."

"Roger Normandy to shore party eta 8 minutes."

"Shepard!" Shepard took a sharp turn to see what the commotion was about. The Lt. had apparently got too close to the beacon and activated it. It began to glow an eerie green as he began to ascend into the air. Shepard moved quick, tackling him out of the reach of the beacon but sacrificing herself. Her body convulsed as the beacon, before it finally exploded, and sent her flying into the air. "Commander!" Alenko ran over just as the Normandy showed up. They dragged Shepard on board leaving the remnants of the beacon behind.


End file.
